


Dearly Belated

by parkadescandal



Series: soriku week [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Day 1, Feelings Realization, First Time, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Slice of Life, SoRiku Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-07
Updated: 2019-12-07
Packaged: 2021-02-26 06:55:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21709318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/parkadescandal/pseuds/parkadescandal
Summary: A funny thing happened on the way to the feelings.
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: soriku week [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1564756
Comments: 4
Kudos: 62





	Dearly Belated

**Author's Note:**

> Ask not for whom the clue bus plows. It plows 'ver thee.

Sora is idly completing some task for Donald or for Goofy or for both or for _somebody_ but he’s not in a position to care much about it too much. He understands that whatever it is, it’s still a small price for peace, and he’s not _ungrateful_ or anything. There are certainly worse things, and he can’t say he’s bored, or even that he’d rather be doing something else, just that he’s… apathetic.

He thinks part of the problem is that he’s not a huge fan of being alone. Maybe for an hour or two at a time is fine, but he’s accustomed to having a friend at arm’s length at any given moment. One of the biggest bummers of a lack of world peril induced action—to reiterate, _not_ that he’s complaining!—is that group efforts are dissolved and funneled into the minutiae, a little micromanaging here, some bureaucracy there. Delegate, divide, and conquer.

Even if it were on separate tasks, he thinks it’d be a little more tolerable if someone else could join in. He’s particularly missing that dry way in which Riku pretends to disparage it all while actually explaining why it’s important, and if he weren’t off world he’d staunchly park himself in the immediate vicinity of the diatribe and happily endure it. He misses Riku. He’s got a knack for making everything seem a little more worth caring about. Sora would try and add some value himself, but he doesn’t see the point when Riku’s already going to take care of it for him. Sora loves not having to worry about it. He loves the way he points out the bright side of things. He loves Riku.

He finishes up transcribing a week’s worth of Gummi excursions with a little note cataloguing time and date, conscious not to make it look like he’s exaggerating how terrible his handwriting is to get out of doing it again since he’s already been yelled at about it, and goes to categorize a short little stack of things to be transferred to Gummitech and never be spoken about again.

_I’m in love with Riku,_ he thinks with a little hum while collecting the last little thing he needs before he can finally leave the room without having to turn back around again. _That tracks._

When he completes the task he can devote a little more brainspace to things other than trying not to forget what he’s doing and the order in which he needs to do it, and on the way back he pats around in his brain on the hunt for a reminder of whatever that last little half-formed piece of comfort he started to dwell on was.

_Ah, yes. I’m in love wi_ —

He stops to give the mine he planted some fifteen minutes or so ago due consideration before he walks into it entirely, and stares off ahead, arrested in place.

It’s entirely too late, anyway. He’s stumbled into an irrefutable truth. No take backs. Perhaps he just tread delicately in this same minefield all along without jostling the evidence—rattled as he is, he’s got a funny feeling the only person this is news for is himself.

Every little thing from about the last decade or so that corroborates comes to him at once, and he puts a hand to his mouth. Oh gosh. He’s in love with Riku. What does that even mean? It’s much too late to ignore it—this knowledge is here to stay, possibly for the rest of eternity, and now he’s compelled to act. But what to _do_? And how to _do it_? What is being in love supposed to look like, anyway? He needs some time to think. He blows off his check in with Donald or with Goofy or with both or with _somebody_ and retreats to his room to pretend to himself that he’s not going to count every second until Riku comes back.

The door’s already wide open, but Riku knocks at the threshold and stands, waiting to be invited in, one leg crossed over the other at the ankle and arms crossed so he’s hugging himself, shoulder leaning on the doorway. He’s relaxed, and wears an expression of matter of fact fondness.

_Be cool_ , Sora thinks, but his brain’s running about 5 seconds behind because he’s already broken into an ear-splitting grin and hopped up to stand.

“Hey,” Riku says, and Sora just barely stops himself from barrelling into him.

“Hey,” he says back instead.

“Gotta minute?”

“Really busy, actually.”

The wattage on Riku’s smile goes up by a degree, seeing as there’s clearly nothing important going on here.

“I’ll tell you later, then.”

“No! I mean. No, it’s fine.”

With a decisive step Riku strides over to meet him and slaps a hand on his shoulder to rock him backwards, letting Sora sway with it for a moment, then leaves his grip right there. He looks down at him, attention focused; Sora shrinks under it.

“I missed you,” Sora says, and even though it’s all jumbled together it seems he understands.

“I was hoping so,” he says warmly, then leans down and kisses him on the mouth.

Of course it’s over as soon as it begins. Sora looks up at him, head swimming, trying to call back to the aching eternity of about two seconds ago: did he actually kiss him back? Did he even have time to? Should he try again? Does Riku know that he wants to? He looks up at him, unable to keep the panic from all of these concerns and more from leaking into his expression, but it seems in the long run it won’t matter.

“Find me when your schedule clears up,” Riku says, still warm, still smiling. Sora doesn’t say anything as he leaves.

Oh, he will, Sora thinks; that’s inevitable. But he’s just had to pencil in a solid afternoon’s worth of pensive reflection. The rest of him needs to catch up before he leaps headfirst into the embrace he’s long since been destined to be in.

**Author's Note:**

> The thought of someone trying to make Sora do paperwork is perhaps the funniest thing to me right now. 
> 
> #sorikuweek2019 | Day 1: First Time


End file.
